Reeves may need £12 billion tax increase to meet defense spending goal

Rachel Reeves may need to raise taxes by £12 billion to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP. This comes as economists warn that meeting this target could require significant cuts to other government departments. The Resolution Foundation indicates that maintaining current spending levels in unprotected departments could lead to cuts of up to £12 billion. This would mean a real-term reduction of about 6% over the current parliament. Military leaders are pushing for faster increases in defense spending, with some calls for it to reach 5% of GDP. The government is considering tax rises in March amid low growth and rising borrowing costs.